Badass Beer Ice Creams

Photo by Matthew Schniper

I’ve been obsessed with them since we made some at home during the pandemic, and I’ve continued a chat with Chef Noah Siebenaller about his experimentation at B&B. Though a few rotating options are available in addition to the excellent bourbon-brown sugar and rum-raisin ice creams, no flight yet exists to sample them all, so go à la carte or grab a to-go pint.

We try five flavors, pairing each with a small sampling of its respective beer: WeldWerks’ Triple Berry Cheesecake Berliner Weisse, Left Hand’s White Russian Nitro Imperial White Stout on nitro, Avery’s Imperial Stoutwork Orange Stout (a colossal 15.7-percent ABV), Breckenridge’s Pumpkin Spice Latte on nitro, and Epic’s whiskey barrel-aged Imperial Pumpkin Porter. Our favorite ice cream’s the Berliner Weisse, tasting like pie with graham crackers mixed into a berry compote; the beer alone’s fantastic, channeling a strawberry cheesecake Jelly Belly.

The Stoutwork Orange tastes like barleywine, that strength balanced by added chocolate ganache in the ice cream, making it taste like a boozed brownie. Epic’s pumpkin beer tastes like its barrel, that flavor muted some by the ice cream for a finish flavor like pumpkin Irish Cream. Breck’s milder pumpkin brew turns into a stellar ice cream with added cinnamon and nutmeg, tasting best when sipped with its beer.

Adding cold brew to this ice cream also makes for a sensational taste. And most interestingly, the White Russian tastes like delicious cappuccino ice cream, but when chased by a sip of its alone-awesome beer, the redundant flavors cancel out, leaving a finish flavor of Pilsner Urquell. It’s so odd I insist Siebenaller make his own sample: He agrees, we can’t explain it.